Election Commission (EC) should reinstate the names of voters who have not changed their old identity cards to MyKad and publicly apologise for removing their names from the electoral roll

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Press Statement (2)

by Lim Guan Eng

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(Petaling Jaya, Thursday): DAP welcomes the Cabinet’s directive to the Election Commission (EC) not to remove voters who have not changed their old identity cards to MyKad from the electoral roll. EC should reinstate the names of voters who have not changed their old identity cards to MyKad and publicly apologise for removing their names from the electoral roll.  

DAP had strenuously opposed such moves as it violated our constitutional rights as a citizen to vote. If a Malaysian can be deprived of his right to vote just because he had not changed to a MyKad, the implication is that our citizenship rights can also be revoked for the same reasons. How can the old IC not be acceptable when even a temporary receipt of a lost IC endorsed by the Registration Department is accepted by the EC as a valid confirmation of identity and a right to vote? For once, both DAP and the Cabinet are in agreement that this is a violation of a citizen’s right to vote. 

EC secretary Datuk Kamaruzaman Mohd Noor had said that the names of voters still using the old IC would be deleted from the electoral roll for standardisation with records from the National Registration Department. There were 22,433 voters with the old IC whose names will be displayed until July 26 and they have until then to appeal to the EC not to remove their names from the electoral roll.  

Following the Cabinet directive, there is no reason for any appeals by voters who their names unfairly removed to have their names reinstated and the EC should just simply transfer the names back. Previously the EC had warned that 84,000 voters who have not changed into MyKad would lose their rights to vote. There are currently over 300,000 Malaysians with the old identity cards who have yet to obtain the MyKad.  

Article 119 of the Federal Constitution states that once a citizen is registered as a voter, he or she is entitled to exercise their voting rights. Nothing is mentioned in the law that the old identity cards are invalid. Whether the figure is 84,000 or 300,000 voters, this is a large number of Malaysians who are to be disenfranchised on a mere technical ground. This would be harsh, unfair and unjust as well as makes a mockery of democracy which gives every citizen the right to vote to choose their own leaders.